The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-09-10
Complied for The Arkdnsdr TrdueLer. SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

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 MT. W. A. Ashe, of Quebec, reports that the Eskimos living near Hudson Strait have mean height for the men of feet 3.9 inches; and for the wo- men, about feet. Their body tenn perature averaged 1902 degrees for winter and 98.4 degrees for summer, that of the observing party being 98. l degrees and 97.7 degrees respectively.
 A recent observer of sunflowers at- tributes their antimalarial action to their absorption of water from the soil, as we'll &s to their accredited properties of absorbing malarial germs, and emitting much oxygen. During June, 1885, a quarter of an acre of suntlowers exhaled in the form l of vapor an average of sixty five gall Ions of water daily.
 ELEMENTS OF MAN.-Chemically considered, man is composed of thir- teen elements-five being gases and eight solids. In man weighing 154 pounds, the oxygen, according to French authority, weighs 97 pounds, chlorine about 26 ounces, and t1uorine 3i ounces. He is therefore made up chiefly of gases, which in free state would occupy about 4000 cubic feet of space. Carbon and calcium repre- sent the bulk of the solids; the phos- phorus, sulphur, potassium, sodium, and iron weighing only from 14 to 26 ounces each.
 ALUMINIUM ALLoYs.-Of the alloys aluminium, the series formed with copper, and known as aluminium bronze, are the most important. The alloy containing 90 per cent of copper and 10 of aluminium is the most prominent of these, and was discovered as long ago as 1856 by Dr. John Percy. It has deep golden color, a specific gravity of 7.7, and can be shaped at red heat and hammered until cold without cracking. The al- Joys change to white in color when the proportion of aluminium reaches about 20 per cent.
 A PHYSICAL PHENoMENON.-Ac cu- rious ''dead space" in chemical reac- tions has formed the subject of com munication by Herr Siebreich to the Berlin Academy. In this space the reaction going on in other parts of a uniformly mixed liquid does not oc- cur, or occurs late or in less degree In the test-tube decomposition of chloral hydrate by sodium carbonate yielding chlorotorm-a surface layer Inf Q n niT T Thfh h of s,,ol, clear, while immediately below the solution is turbid from minute glob- ules of chloro1orm. Contact with air is essential to the formation of dead space, and when the air is removed the reactions are uniform throughout.
 SANITARY EFFECT OF RA1N-"We commonly abuse our climate" writes Mir. w. Mattieu Williams, "on account of its humidity. This is a great mis- take. Frequent and moderate rain, such as constitutes the characteristic Of British climate, is the most effect i've of all sanitary agencies. It cleanses the ground, and, what is far more inn portant, it cleanses the air. The am- moniacal and other exhalations, con- tinually rising from decomposing an- imal and vegetable matter, are all more or less soluble in water and are largely removed by gentle rain. Be- sides these it absorbs and carries down into rivers and thence to the sea the excess of carbonic acid exhaled from our lungs, and produced by our fires and lights. De Saussure found that a shower of rain removed about p per cent of the carbonic acid from the air over Lake Geneva. Also that there was less over the lake than over the neighboring meadows and the great elevations of the Alps where there was no water. The atmosphere over the sea contains less than one- fourth of the quantity in that over the land. Far away at sea the quantity is inappre- ciable, and at given place on the coast it varies with the wind, increas- ing as it blows from the land and ctce cerSo. All these facts show that water in contact with the air absorbs its carbonic acid in decided practical degree. In densely populated dis tricts this is of considerable import ance. The difference is perceptible to the senses after long drought, as the common expression refreshing show CTS indicates"
 WORLD TIME.-We imagine, says Flammarion, that we ascend very high into the past when we behold the ancient pyramids still standing on the plains of Egypt, the obelisks covered with mysterious hieroglyph- ics, the silent temples of Asia, the an-